Portraits Of Jewish Life

Chavie Lieber profiles a Brooklyn gallery featuring the work of young Hasidic Jewish artists:

The images displayed in this artistic genre can often seem so synthetic: the modestly-clad woman, the Torah scrolls and their scholars—the messages of tradition almost hit you in the face. But every once in a while you’ll come across something that evokes the exact emotion you want to feel when looking at Jewish art, and you’re reminded why these same images and characters have been painted again and again by Jews for thousands of years. …

The variety of the art is expansive, from a brightly colored, four-foot splatter painting by Moully simply titled “Life,” to a cubism-depiction of the seven days of creation, to abstract ink splatters of Hasidic men dancing, to a moody charcoal sketching of children, presumably orphans, lighting Shabbat candles. Oh, and many, many drawings of the late Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the beloved Lubavitcher Rebbe, because an art exhibit blocks away from the Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway will, most certainly, feature paintings of the Rebbe.